First-class travel. Six-figure salaries for half the 132 officers and staffers. Plenty of plum jobs for family members. Life is good at the top of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers.

 ...the electorate is growing more and more sensitive to the rising burden of taxes and fees of the past few years as lawmakers attempted to balance the state’s budget on the back of taxpayers....

... three hundred delegates gathered at the Hilton Hawaiian Village today for the 2012 Hawaii Republican Party Convention.... 

Working together to create jobs will bring Hawaii’s economy back. That’s the independent record that Linda Lingle has built....

DC status quo defenders have contributed about $700,000 to Mazie....

• Derrick H.M. Chan
• Daniel R. Foley
• David M. Forman
• Craig H. Nakamura
• Richard W. Pollack

Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced the appointment of a new Director of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) and a change at the Public Safety Department (PSD).

The drag from construction and government will end this year, setting the stage for broader growth....

Almost two years ago today, we made history by winning a historic special election....

The lawsuit argues that the Equal Protection Clause guarantees representational equality as well as voting equality....

The largest tax hike in history is due to strike the United States on January 1, 2013. Known as "Taxmageddon," it would impose $494 billion in higher taxes on the American people in the first year....

Starting May 9th, the Leadership Institute will be returning to Hawaii with world-class campaign training for conservative candidates....

For Honolulu, this means that the $250 million that the Obama Administration had set aside for our rail project will just disappear. It also means that New Starts Funding as a national program may also disappear....

Governor Neil Abercrombie today ordered that all national and Hawai'i flags at all State offices and agencies as well as the Hawai'i National Guard are to be flown at half-staff ....

Her latest missive is not surprising to the people of Hawaii, as it is simply the latest example of what the public knows already: Mazie puts partisan politics before people....

Hawaii's achievement level is at or above 22 percent Proficient, up from 17 percent in 2009...equivalent to Alabama, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and West Virginia....

State grades were based on a rigorous examination of state law for adherence to guiding principles developed by national child welfare experts using a 100-point grading system....

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS LAKE ERIE (CG 70) successfully conducted a flight test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, resulting in the first intercept of a short-range ballistic missile target ....

Bateman, a retired US Air Force Colonel (JAG), former Assistant Attorney General for Washington state and attorney in private practice for 30 years, now owns the Heavenly Hawaiian Coffee farm, which he has operated for the last seven years....

Oregon investigators have traced an outbreak of norovirus to a reusable grocery bag that members of a Beaverton girls' soccer team passed around when they shared cookies....

...turbines frequently draw electricity from the grid to keep blades turning when the wind is not blowing....

Kachejian's story, which is continued in new book, "SUVs Suck In Combat," illustrates the human impact of an ill-equipped military....

"Like me, the U.S. Chamber recognizes that the time for partisan bickering is over. We must work together to establish bipartisan solutions that will help boost our economy" -- Linda Lingle

The Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today the names of the Navy’s recently acquired high speed ferries (HSFs); the USNS Guam and the USNS Puerto Rico....

...$3.5 million from the City’s Affordable Housing Fund to acquire and/or renovate an existing structure to provide transitional housing....

One of the guards slept through the ordeal, and another sat in a chair with a towel draped over his head, Cocklin says. 

...

"...we cannot have high-quality schools without adequate funding...." -- Wil Okabe

Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs) that address recent March 2012 storm damage to highways and roadways as well as implement safety improvements throughout the state’s transportation system....

This week, the House of Representatives has an opportunity to finally set some limits on Washington's spending spree while also ensuring that the U.S. military has the resources it needs....

On May 8, 2012, the state released the first draft of its strategy to transform its information technology and business processes....

Overall, 1.2 million people, or 0.4 percent of all people in the United States, identified as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHPI), either alone or in combination with one or more races. This population grew by 40 percent from 2000 to 2010.

Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and Utah all earned A+'s for their friendliness towards small businesses. In contrast, small business owners gave California, Hawaii, Vermont, and Rhode Island an F....

...public pensions nationwide are underfunded by a total of $4.4 trillion, despite efforts by many state governments to reform pension programs....

Last weekend, the people of France took a sharp turn to the left, and the rest of Europe may be on the brink of rebuking its recent tack toward fiscal responsibility....

Above all else, we both agree that President Obama must be defeated. The task will not be easy. It will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious....

"As a Congressman and member of the Chickasaw Nation, Congressman Cole has made providing indigenous people, including native Hawaiians, the means for self-determination, self-governance and self-reliance a legislative priority," said Gov. Linda Lingle.

We are also pleased to report that the most onerous measures of 2011 and 2012 – House Bill 441, House Bill 834, House Bill 2028 and Senate Bill 2975 – all died upon adjournment of this legislative session....

Why start the first year with 500 releases? I also question whether we will have the necessary programs and personnel in place for Year 1. Will drug and alcohol treatment, counseling, vocational training, or halfway houses be ready?

Rep Thielen notes the proximity of five schools, a hospital, and numerous residences, all within one mile of the proposed landfill site....

Hawaii is a harbinger for what's to come in both caregiving and LTC ....

This 2012 edition of Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect marks the 21st year the AFL-CIO has produced a report on the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers....

The Bill passed 22-3. Out of 25 Senators, there were 10 who voted "yes, with reservations." Honorable Senators, what does that even mean?

OPEIU represents nurses throughout the United States under the umbrella of the OPEIU Nurses Council and recently affiliated the 4,000-member Hawai'i Nurses Association (HNA)....

...production companies only remain in-state until tax conditions are made more favorable elsewhere....

...a faceless young American woman grows from birth to old age with the government at her side every step of the way....

Among the problematic policies are ... policies that force student clubs to accept voting members and officers that don’t agree with the clubs’ beliefs....

A political watershed is formed when the benefits of incumbency flow down hill to a new generation....

A highly compensated Bishop Street executive recently complained that his effective state tax rate was something on the order of 16% even though the nominal maximum state income tax rate is 11% for those folks making big incomes....

Complicating matters, the Merrill executive who most-closely dealt with the fund reportedly fell overboard while fishing in waters off Hawaii last September, and has yet to be found.…